3rd Dietician visit....

Well, I'm seeing the nutritionist for the 3rd time (15 more monthly visits to go). It's so hard to see everyone have their approvals so fast. My ins. co. required 18 months of supervised, documented dieting, with monthly visits to my physician. (Plus all the usual requirements). It has been so difficult for me to take weight off these past few months...duh!!! Diets do not work for us!!!! But I find myself scrambling to take off a few pounds about a week before I see my nutritionist (slim fast). I know this is wrong, but the nutritionist said that if I'm not serious about losing weight the old fashioned way, I'm wasting her time. (I'm only doing this so my ins. co. will pay for my WLS!!!!!). I have to show that at least I'm trying, though I do not want to lose too much, because I still have to qualify for WLS...an yadice or words of encouragement? Thanks.. Suzy

18 months..... are you sure about this ? the most i ever heard an insurance company require is 6 months of supervised dieting? i hope your doctors office is working with you. maybe they can call and see if there is any way to get around this, if your health is in jeopardy you shouldn't have to wait 15 months to get wls. i can't stress how important it is that you partner with your wls office. i have aetna and they required 6 months of supervised dieting. i was able to use previous attempts at dieting towards the 6 months they required. maybe you can do the same. don't be afraid to asks. please speak to you weight lost surgeons office, i know most wls have people in the office who deal with insurance issue and will work with you. hang in there. donna open rny mar 18 2003 282/140/135

Yes, I'm sure about the 18 mo. required dietician visits. My WLS surgeon's office said that of all the insurance co.'s, mine was the hardest to get approved. They've never had an exception yet ..... They virtually make you jump through all kinds of hoops, since they have an exclusion in my ins. policy & WLS is NOT covered. However, they have approved some people in the past on a case to case basis....They used to have a 6 mo. requirement, then 12, but said with all the complications of WLS, they had to it move uo to 18 mo.!! Just when I started to look into WLS!!!!! Oh well, I'll do my best to cope, but it is hard...Two of my friends recently had the gastric bypass. Both of them fared well..they are doing great..I guess I'm a little envious. Thanks for all the advice, I'll hang in there.. Suzy

Suzy, Hun I know the feeling though I had to do the 6 month weight loss thing for INS only! I told my nutritionist right out that this is ONLY for the INS company and I am done with trying to diet! It did NOT work for me and she just said well try your best to get through this and losing will be good for you anyways. I yes'ed her to death when I was there and then tried to watch during the weeks but I did not kill myself. In 6 months I only lost 7/10 lbs, depending on what scale I was on! Well I wish you the best hun ~Hugs~ Debra P 285/233/125??

I told the nutritionist that I was seeing her, due to the ins. co. requirements for WLS. But she told me flat out that if I'm just going through the motions, I'm wasting her time. ...So, I started drinking slimfast about 5 days before I see her, just to show some weight loss..pretty desperate, huh? I'll do my best to get through this, but it gets me down in the dumps; my two friends were approved within weeks (different ins.). I see how great they look...I get a bit envious.. Thanks for the words of wisdom Suzy

SUSAN,,,,, i know its hard thats why we have all turned to this tool to aide in our looseing of the weight. I do know that in the long run the looseing pre op is awesome, it seems to lower your risks for complications post op. MY SURGEON insists on all his patients to loose 10 percent of their weight. I struggled and did it lost 24 lbs pre op. NOW that im on the other side and looseing weight fast with my tool i aide that to my numbers and my numbers are WOW now. DO the best you can thats all thats all they expect. I know now being post op i am happy i dropped some pre op instead of getting into that gaining last meal syndrome and put on more weight in that time.....! GOOD LUCK i know its frustrating (((HUG)), i also agree i heard many have to do that for 6 months but 18 months is crazy! GOOD LUCK LISA

Thanks for all the kind words & good wishes, I need them!!! Suzy